Sir Cornelius Alfred Moloney (1848 – 13 August 1913) was a British colonial administrator. He served as British Administrator of

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

from 1884 to 1886, Governor of

Lagos Colony Lagos Colony was a British colonial possession centred on the port of Lagos in what is now southern Nigeria. Lagos was annexed on 6 August 1861 under the threat of force by Commander Beddingfield of HMS Prometheus who was accompanied by the Ac ...

from 1886 to 1890, Governor of

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

from 1891 to 1897, Governor of the Federal Colony of the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

from 1897 to 1900, and Governor of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

from November 1900 to 1904. It was during his term as governor of Trinidad and Tobago that the 1903 Water Riots took place. The riot resulted in the destruction of the Red House, the seat of government. Moloney was made a Companion of the

Order of St. Michael and St. George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(C.M.G.) the 1882 Birthday Honours, later being promoted to Knight Commander (K.C.M.G.) in the

1890 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1890 were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India. They were announced in ''The Times'' on 1 January 1890, and the various honours were gazetted in ''The London Gaz ...

. Moloney was concerned that the

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

value of products of colonies in general, and of those administered by him in his diplomatic roles in particular, should be better propagated, and he believed that this would encourage the economy and provide instruction to the natives. To this end he established an exemplary

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, in 1883, at Kokoinaiko (possibly Okokomaiko), Lagos colony, for the growth of plants of marketable value, including

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

kola KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio form ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

shea butter Shea butter (, , or ; ) is a fat extracted from yellow the nut of the African shea tree (''Vitellaria paradoxa''). It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a ...

, gum,

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

cacao and others. In his words, "I thought to conduct this operation in such a manner as to encourage economy, replenishing, and the diffusion of useful and botanical knowledge of commercial importance". The garden fell into neglect after he was posted to the British Honduras. ''Mimetillus moloneyi'' ( Moloney's mimic bat) was named after him. After the death of his first wife, he married on 2 March 1897 Frances Isabella Sophia Mary Lewis (1873–1959), daughter of Irish MP

Henry Owen Lewis Henry Owen Lewis (26 September 1842 - 5 August 1913) was an Irish Home Rule politician. He was MP for Carlow from 1874 to 1880. His daughter Frances (1873–1959) married colonial governor Cornelius Alfred Moloney and in widowhood co-founded th ...

. They moved to Italy in 1911 when his health declined, and he died in

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and '' comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. ...

. His widow returned to Ireland, co-founded the Missionary Sisters of St. Columban, and became a nun.

Publications

* "West African Fisheries, with Particular Reference to the Gold Coast Colony", Sir Cornelius Alfred Moloney, 1883, W. Clowes. * "Sketch of the Forestry of West Africa with Particular Reference to Its Present Principal Commercial Products", Sir Cornelius Alfred Moloney, 1887, S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. * "From a Silver to a Gold Standard in British Honduras", an article from The North American Review, Volume 163. 1896. * "Preferential Tariff within the British Empire" is an article from The North American Review, Volume 187. 1908.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moloney, Cornelius Alfred Governors of Trinidad and Tobago Governors of the Gambia History of Lagos 1848 births 1913 deaths British expatriates in Nigeria British expatriates in the Gambia British expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago Governors of the Lagos Colony Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Governors of British Honduras Governors of the Windward Islands